Jeff Birkeland is the SVP of Product and Platform at Included Health, a company that aims to be the app on your phone that you first think of when you have a healthcare need.

On this episode of CRAFTED., we explore why “the integration itself is the innovation.”

Included Health has more than 2,000 employees across both technology and clinical care, and its services are used by many top companies and their employees. The goal: create an integrated experience that brings it all together… from insurance to diet to doctors to drugs and more…

The disjointed nature of healthcare is something Jeff has experienced personally. Such as when he asked his surgeon about food: “ He told me directly like, ‘Hey, the dietician stuff is not my thing…’ Our challenge at Included health is how do we make those connections?”

To make those connections, Jeff relies on skills he learned before he got into product: He used to make documentaries. We'll hear how Jeff applies this power of narrative at Included Health and at Headspace, where he used to lead the consumer product team.

Takeaways from this episode:

• Often, the “integration itself is the innovation.”
• Consider the “in-between” times: What is your user doing before and after they use your product? What should they do?
• Personalization: How small product details for you add up to a great product experience
• GenAI: How to build and test new AI-powered experiences
• Speed matters: the quicker you make something, the more your user will want to do it (an old lesson from Google, that also applies at Included and many more things)

Key Moments:

• (02:35) - “Like a movie” — How Jeff applies his storytelling skills to user experience
• (03:58) - Consider the “in-between moments” – What is your user doing before and after they use your app? And how Jeff applied this thinking at Headspace
• (05:42) - “The dietician stuff is not my thing,” said Jeff’s surgeon. Included Health is trying to prevent its members from that sort of disjointed experience
• (08:12) - Lessons from leading the consumer product team at Headspace
• (11:10) - About Included Health and what is surprising Jeff about healthcare innovation
• (14:34) - Personalization: How Included Health is creating personalized experiences to serve members better
• (18:30) - AI and product development: experimenting with using AI to answer members’ questions about their insurance coverage
• (21:49) - Evaluating the AI product and considering whether it’s ready for a wider roll out
• (23:38) - Outro

CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications.

CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation.

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

April Dunford is an expert at product positioning. She’s advised hundreds of B2B companies on how they can make their products Obviously Awesome — that’s also the title of her bestselling book on positioning.

On this episode of CRAFTED., April shares tips on how you can make your product standout and how you can drive more sales — that’s the focus of her latest book, Sales Pitch.

April says great positioning starts when you truly understand the answer to this question: “If you didn't exist, what would a customer do?”

And the answer may surprise you: “We lose half of our deals in B2B to ‘do nothing!’”

Do nothing – the status quo – is a fierce competitor and April has identified ways to help customers gain the confidence they need to make a scary purchase decision (e.g. buying a new CRM). Key here: don’t sell to your customer; help them buy.

April is fun and has a knack for sharing colorful anecdotes and analogies that will stick with you. e.g. Tune in to find out what buying a toilet has to do with B2B SaaS.

Takeaways from this episode:

• Positioning defines how your product is the best in the world at delivering something to a defined group of people
• Great positioning starts with understanding the competition. Not what you think the competition is, but what your customers actually evaluate you against. e.g. Is your product cake (dessert) or a muffin (breakfast)? They’re both made of bread and pretty similar, but they’ve got totally different competitors.
• Startups often have great positioning at the outset, but then it slips over time as new competitors copy what you do and your uniqueness gets lost. You need to pay attention to your positioning as the market changes.
• Don’t sell! Help your customers buy. Don’t assume they know how to! Imagine you’re selling a CRM… When was the last time your customer bought one? Ten years ago? If ever. Help them contextualize your product among the others out there.
• Lead with business outcomes! Not features.

Key Moments:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:20) - - Working with founders, being "the positioning expert", and why positioning is so tricky to get right
• (05:22) - - How to make your product "Obviously Awesome"
• (07:18) - - The five elements of great positioning
• (15:59) - - Why "do nothing" is your strongest competitor: 50% of B2B deals are lost to "do nothing"
• (17:43) - - Don't sell: Rather, "help your customers buy" (and what buying a toilet has to do with this)
• (29:50) - - April positions herself: How she grew her personal brand and narrowed in on her solopreneur offering
• (33:16) - - Outro

CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications.

CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation.

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm

Making media is hard. Distributing it to the right audience even more so. GenAI can help.

Matt Monahan is the president of Arc XP at the Washington Post. On this episode, we're digging into the core technology of any media company: the content management system (CMS), why they’re so hard to build right and how new GenAI tools can reduce the toil required for journalists to get their stories to the right audience.

Arc XP is not only the CMS used by the Washington Post, but it’s also used by many other publishers, broadcasters, and companies with stories to tell. Matt shares more on the challenge of commercializing and white-listing an internal tool for others to use. It’s a tantalizing idea – turn that cost center into a profit center! — but it’s not for the faint of heart.

Plus, lessons from Jeff Bezos, the owner of the Washington Post, including how the Post uses key Amazon practices, such as the “six page memo” and “one- and two-way doors.”

Key Moments:

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:25) - From print to digital: hard product & organizational changes
• (04:17) - Why the CMS is where it all comes together
• (06:27) - Commercializing an internal tool: selling Arc XP to other publishers
• (10:07) - AWS and the impact of Jeff Bezos on the Washington Post
• (11:30) - The famous six-page memo and how the Post benefits from it
• (14:06) - GenAI: New features Matt is building to reduce toil for journalists
• (20:45) - How to pick the right model and fine tune it
• (23:24) - Matt’s a pilot! What flying has taught him about running a business
• (24:33) - Being nimble: Why there are more “one way doors” than you think
• (26:07) - Outro

CRAFTED. is brought to you in partnership with Docker, which helps developers build, share, run and verify applications anywhere – without environment confirmation or management. More than 20 million developers worldwide use Docker's suite of development tools, services and automations to accelerate the delivery of secure applications.

CRAFTED. is produced by Modern Product Minds, where CRAFTED. host Dan Blumberg and team can help you take a new product from zero to one... and beyond. We specialize in early stage product discovery, growth, and experimentation. Learn more at modernproductminds.com

Subscribe to CRAFTED., follow the show, and sign up for the newsletter 👉 crafted.fm